Random Memories

[forpetessake]

Random Memory time;

I am sure a tpic like this must have been posted, but just in case, I thought it would be cool to share those random memories.

Back in 1982, when I was a bass drum player for The Knights, I had a friend who was a bass drum player for another corps called The Suncoast Sound. Anyway after both our shows, we were both still in our uniforms carrying our drums on our side, walking back to our trucks when a kid approached us. He couldnt have been more than 10 years old. I was 16 at the time. He asked us for our autographs. :lol

Looking back on it, I cant remember another time in my life when someone asked me for my autograph because of music anyway.

Dont really know why I just thought of that moment, but...well...there it is.

Edited September 19, 2008 by forpetessake

[HUGADA]

Random Memory time;

I am sure a tpic like this must have been posted, but just in case, I thought it would be cool to share those random memories.

Back in 1982, when I was a bass drum player for The Knights, I had a friend who was a bass drum player for another corps called The Suncoast Sound. Anyway after both our shows, we were both still in our uniforms carrying our drums on our side, walking back to our trucks when a kid approached us. He couldnt have been more than 10 years old. I was 16 at the time. He asked us for our autographs. :lol

Looking back on it, I cant remember another time in my life when someone asked me for my autograph because of music anyway.

Dont really know why I just thought of that moment, but...well...there it is.

Wow! I never got asked for an autograph but I was keen on asking for folks to sign my DCI programs even when I was in a DCI top 12 corps. It was cool to have a kid run down on the field in '82 after we performed the "Victory Show" asking for my sticks. I gave him my scoop as I wanted to keep the sticks. He was most grateful! Needless to say, it blew me away, but I remember being 16 and wanting ANYTHING that had to do with drum corps, esp. from the "big guys!"

[Michael Boo]

Random memories:

Doughnuts and milk off the corps truck (1975-1977) EVERY day.

Practicing in Murdo, SD, seeing a museum in town with a sign outside advertising a Wankel engine inside and thinking someone must have crashed a Mazda on the Interstate.

Performing at NYC's Randall Island Stadium in 1976 and watching the trucks drive by on the roadway over the press box.

A bevy of French-speaking girls showing up to watch The Cavaliers rehearse in a small town 30 miles outside Montreal and suddenly the most popular guy in the corps was the one who spoke French.

Don Warren, found of The Cavaliers, buying pizza for the Racine Scouts at the 1977 VFW Nationals so the kids wouldn't feel left out when we were snacking after the big show. (We were staying in the same facility.)

Remembering Southwind and Carolina Crown going for the Division II DCI World Championship, Carolina Crown winning every caption except drums and Southwind winning the title.

Walking outside the hotel in Jackson, MS during Worlds and wanting to go back inside before getting to the car in order to take another shower due to the repressive humidity.

The airplane that kept circling the stadium at Finals (was it in Buffalo?) congratulating one corps and wishing a member good luck, ruining the ballads of at least three corps.

Academie Musicale winning the Division III title (1990?) with one of the most remarkable programs I'd ever experienced on the field. At the very end, the block disintegrated as the horns one-by-one evolved from playing the final chord to vocalizing it. Only when all were vocalizing did one realize what had just happened. A truly remarkable and chilling effect.

I'm going to stop for now. I'm sure there are thousands of random memories from all the events I covered. Great times.

[forpetessake]

I dont remember who the unforunate victim was, but we dragged some kids sleeping bag, while the kid was sleeping over to the girls area of the gym floor, so when he woke up the next morning, he woke up surrounded by giggling girls.

[steelcityrabbit]

Getting licked at night when sharing housing with the Troopers by Rin Tin Tin, or whatever it's name was.

Being told not to order fries or shakes before a performace.

Sleeping in the luggage racks on the bus, it paid to be skinny.

Touring in Canada and being able to drink legally at 18.

Having to polish veteran's "bucks" as a rookie.

Having rookies polish my "bucks" as a veteran.

[Cadetsnare]

1990 Birmingham. Stupid, stupid hot. 125 on the field. Us IN WOOL UNIFORMS. Closing the gap to Star and SCV to 1 tenth, then never being beaten after that night.

1993 Jackson. Enough said.

Watching 27th do the pinwheel in Danny Boy. Goosebumps.

BD at Allentown in 86. Untouchable.

Seeing SCV perform their drum solo at Allentown.

Seeing that big stupid prop for the first time with the Bluecoats in 1992. Hilarious!

Eating at Star's food truck after shows, hence the reason for making friends with folks in that corps!

Watching Thom Hannum go nuts in 93 in the middle of Star's show!

Seeing the end of Cadets show in 97 for the first time!

Watching SCV warm up early season in 04...mind-boggling!

....and #1...watching cadets do the final dissolving company front in 87...it took 20 minutes just to pick up all the babies!

[pearlsnaredrummer77]

80-My first drum corps show ever-was totally amazed by Dougie Jefferson, Finleyville's (Royal Crusader) tenor star's solo cadence as they trooped the stand. Also, Garfield-loved those uniforms from day 1.

83 Allentown-our first show and GBV's first competition since 81. Our snareline was trembling and held hands going into the show-we were really struggling with the book, but good friends in it together. We didn't get 'written off' as we feared.. We came in second in our next show and that was a good feeling.

83 Garfield-saw them at prelims in MA and wondering how they ever learned that drill-plus that brass line was really beautiful and loud. It was a revelation.

83 One of our buses broke down somewhere in Rhode Island. We spent 13 hours at a rest area.

83-Just arriving at a show site in Il and Dutch Boy's drumline had been there, turned a corner and BANG-a huge line in uniform looking pretty awesome.

Being at some weird, huge parade somewhere, possibly in Canada or Upstate NY, with a bunch of long since deceased drum corps, but we were fairly close to les chatelaines de laval it was cool to hear them speaking French-reminded you that drum corps was international and they were really a neat corps.

83-Pepe Notaro teaching the battery drill (for some reason) and losing his patience. He yelled something to the effect of "I've taught them horns 5 minutes of drill in 20 minutes, and I can't teach youse people 32 counts in three hours!!!!" After his outburst he seemed mildly pleased with his eloquence and chuckled, and so then we laughed too and tried a little more seriously.

84-27th's awesome line-loved those tenors!

83&84 watching George Hopkins interact with his corps and being very impressed. I was also amazed that he was so young and corps director.

84-we were cool with Kiwanis Kavaliers and often at shows with Black Watch (NJ).

In 84 staying at some God-foresaken closed down HS gym somewhere around Marion and since it was closed for so long, it was loaded with bugs-dead and alive. Trying to sleep that night was dreadful with bugs falling and flying down in various attack waves. The bugs were everwhere and even trying to practice in the surrounding fields was ALMOST worse than Whitewater.

84. Playing a show somewhere in PA at the end of Rt.666. It was a bad omen: We lost as usual.

84 Somewhere in Eastern Pa in 84, we were first on, but there was a technical delay, so we stood wearing our equipment for years in 100+ degree heat. Needless to say we played a crappy show and the tenor beat we played off was so raggedy it just about fell apart-that was the only time i was ever near fainting in my life. It was embarrassing we were soooo ragged.

84-Somewhere on tour during a run through, we had a fairly significant audience, and two of our bass drummers, Kevin Gilley and Dean Minto got into a major fist fight in the middle of the opener. They were rolling around on the ground, punching at each other with the bds still harnessed to their bodies, swinging punches and swearing louder than our 28 brass. The battle was short and no lasting hard feelings, but the audience was shocked.

85 getting drunk at various small bars in Whitewater. When I snuck into the gym at at the armoury we were staying at I kept trying to pull off my high "punk" boots and kept falling over. It was like a bad western. Little did I know most of the guard was awake and watching the proceedings which they then razed me about mercilessly.

[steelcityrabbit]

80- Dougie Jefferson, Finleyville's (Royal Crusader) tenor star's solo cadence as they trooped the stand.

84 we were cool with Kiwanis Kavaliers

In 84 staying at some God-foresaken closed down HS gym somewhere around Marion

84- two of our bass drummers, Kevin Gilley and Dean Minto got into a major fist fight in the middle of the opener.

maybe the coolest cadence to march to.

We were guests of theirs when we did the infamous canada tour in '75 with the cadet corps. A certain two people were caught late at night on a bus in a compromising position.

We had a peeping tom at a church we were staying at in Marion, turns out to be the church janitor.

Dean Minto's little brother is a pro heavyweight boxer and doing really good. Dean last I heard was in jail for beating his wife.

[Puppet]

Oh man!

Watching Father Dominic Schiraldi (our CYO Moderator)give the manger of a restaurant in Jacksonville Florida "what for" after refusing to serve us because: "You can't bring all those niggers in here! The white kids, ok but not the niggers!" I never heard so many mf's and a** hole's among others I'd never heard before and don't eve use now strung together so vehemently in my life.

Walking over the Tri-boro bridge on Friday evenings from the subway to get to Randell's Island for rehearsals.

Walking home from St. Rita's on very cold winter Friday nights with my girlfriend Joan and us saying over and over: "It's just another half mile."

Eating way too much ice cream at the parlor next door to the bingo hall where we raised money for the corps.

Warren Ohio, where we played our rep for customers of a Howard Johnson's on kazoos in the parking lot.

Seeing the Madison Scouts for the first time.

Marching against the Troopers for the first time.

Having my very first Black Cow in a Black Angus restaurant on Collins Avenue in Miami during the VFW Nationals.

Seeing Iowa............................................................................!

Puppet

Edited September 24, 2008 by Puppet

[Walter]

In 1972, we were in St. Clarie Shores, Michigan, to do a show. The show wasn't till the next day so we got there the day before to reherse.

We unloaded the buses and got ready to go to bed. Our horn instructor was to arrive later that night. Before we had lights out, one of the guys went down to the lake and went for a walk. When he came back he had a two foot DEAD carp and was wondering what he could do with it. "WHAT HE COULD DO WITH IT ?" He had an idea. After all the kids were in bed, he went outside and got the fish and put it inside our horn instructors sleeping bag !!!!

That's no the end of the story by a long shot. At three o'clock the air conditioner in the VWF Post cut out. When we woke up, all we could smell was this dead fish. It was enough to make you puke. Our horn instructor, stayed at a hotel that night because he didn't trust us.

We were very quickly asked to leave and then all the windows and doors in the post were opened.

I wunder if they ever got the smell out !!